DHNS

Mangalore Jun 25: "The work on Shiradi Ghat road on NH 48 is not 100 per cent complete and the laying of interlocks in 160 metre stretch is yet to be completed," said National Highways (NH) Executive Engineer (EE) Gopal said. "The work on interlocks could not be undertaken owing to the heavy rainfall," he told Deccan Herald. In fact, he was reacting to the media reports that the newly asphalted road has been damaged within a month.

To a query on the potholes on the newly-opened Shiradi Ghat road, he said: "We did not construct the road like the ones constructed by NHAI, but maintained the existing surface of the road and re-asphalted. If the base was not strong, the base gets saturated due to heavy rainfall and there are all possibilities of potholes appearing in one or two places."

Moreover the contractor who has undertaken the work of repairing the road, must maintain it for one year as per the contract.

As a result, wherever potholes have appeared, the contractor is carrying the work of filling the potholes, he said and added that the NH has undertaken only re-asphalation work from 226th km at Sakleshpura to 264th km at Adda Hole near Gundya along with the concreting of 13 curves.

Mr Gopal also said that the plying of ore laden lorries has been a cause for concern to the the authorities. "We have urged the RTO and district administration to initiate measures to check the movement of overweighed ore lorries. Heavy transport vehicles have been passing through the Shiradi Ghat and the authorities concerned have turned a blind eye to overloading and violation of road safety rules by the drivers of these vehicles," he added.

The plying of overweighed iron ore lorries will surely damage even the concrete roads, he added.